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MassINC says public transportation fuels economy

By Alana Melanson, amelanson@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
03/03/2013 09:44:28 AM EST

MassInc is calling on the state to invest more money in Gateway Cities such as Fitchburg and Leominster to improve regional transportation. Montachusett Area Regional Transit would benefit from such a proposal. (SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE/ JOHN LOVE)

According to a MassINC report released last week, public transportation improvements could attract businesses and residents to cities like Fitchburg and Leominster, as well as help to lower the unemployment rates these Gateway Cities face.

The report, "Reinventing Transit," makes the argument that Gateway Cities have seen significantly less growth than the Greater Boston area due to inadequate investment in public transportation. By investing in stronger transit service, these cities, most of which are rich in walkable neighborhoods and other assets, can strengthen their urban cores as well as regional economies, it states.

In a changing economy, the state's small-to-midsize industrial cities have struggled to regain their footing with the manufacturing decline and the decentralization of jobs.

According to MassINC, this decentralization started when Gateway Cities began to systematically remove their elaborate electric streetcar networks and interurban rail lines --that connected them to Boston and each other--with the rise of the automobile. In Fitchburg, streetcar service ended in 1932.

Now, the residents of these cities are largely dependent upon automotive travel -- something that is becoming more and more expensive to maintain. In 2008, the average Massachusetts household spent $2,200 on gasoline alone, amounting to $5.4 billion, most of which left the state, according to the report. In areas with strong transit networks, households can save about $500 annually in transportation costs -- money that could be spent on goods and services that would benefit the local economy, MassINC argues.

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For those who do rely on public transportation, the average Gateway City rider spends about two hours each day commuting to work--nearly twice as long as those who commute by car, the report states.

Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed directing $1.5 billion in new state revenue to the commonwealth's 15 regional transport authorities (RTAs) over the next 10 years -- equaling $100 million annually -- which would allow all regions the opportunity to simultaneously revise and expand their approach to public transit.

For fiscal 2014, the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority's share would be an additional $5.8 million over the $4.4 million in state funding MART received for fiscal 2013.

MART Administrator Mohammed Khan said those additional funds would allow all buses to run until 9 p.m.; currently, buses run from about 5 a.m. to about 7 p.m. Between 2002 and 2010, MART had to cut its service almost in half due to low funding.With the proposed additional money, it can bring some of the routes it lost back, such as service to Devens, he said, as well as increased Saturday service and possibly even some Sunday service. It would also allow expanded services to Fitchburg State University and Mount Wachusett Community College, and to new commuter rail stations being built in West Fitchburg and Gardner.

"Is transportation important to the region from an economic development standpoint? Absolutely," said David McKeehan, president of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. "It's critical to move people and goods throughout the region and beyond in order to sustain a good business climate."

He's concerned, however, about where the money Patrick wants to invest in transportation is going to come from.

"Workers, just at the beginning of the year, experienced a 2 percent decrease in their disposable income because of the reinstatement of the payroll tax," McKeehan said. "This is a region that has 9 percent unemployment. It's very difficult to understand how adding another 1 percent reduction in the disposable income for those same workers is going to help the local economy."

However that money is raised, he believes the region deserves its fair share--but with low ridership statewide and locally, "it's very difficult for folks in this region to understand subsidizing systems they never use."

According to MassINC, on average, only 7.3 percent of Gateway City residents ride public transit to work, which is significantly lower than the state average of 9.2 percent. Furthermore, when the Gateway Cities within the core MBTA area are excluded, that figure drops down to 3.1 percent. In Fitchburg, only about 2.5 percent of residents ride public transportation to work, and slightly fewer in Leominster.

Khan believes this poor ridership is due to service gaps. In Boston and the immediately surrounding area, workers can more easily take public transportation to their places of employment, as certain services run most hours of the day and night. Locally, for anyone working a second or third shift job, Khan said, relying on public transportation is near impossible when service is available only either to or from work and not both ways.

MassINC argues that many Gateway City residents who are dependent upon public transit have difficulty accessing jobs and often give up due to longer commutes. Using 2009-2011 averages, it goes further to state that Gateway Cities' labor force participation rates are on average 2.5 percentage points below the state rate of 68 percent. Both Fitchburg and Leominster hover around 65 percent, with Leominster's slightly higher.

"Gateway Cities' underparticipation in the labor force not only affects local economies, it keeps a lid on the state's economic prospects as a whole," the report states. "If all Gateway City residents engaged in the labor force at the overall statewide rate of 68 percent, Massachusetts would be home to nearly 50,000 more workers.

If these additional workers held only minimum wage full-time jobs, it would amount to more than $780 million in annual wages circulating throughout both local economies and that of the state, adding to the tax base."

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